Here’s what ISRO achieved in 2018 – and what to expect this year

The success of PSLV-C40/Cartosat-2 Series brought laurels to ISRO as, apart from 3 Indian satellites, the rocket carried 28 satellites from 6 other countries.

According to the agency, this year India has planned 32 missions, including the "most complex" Chandrayaan-2&nbsp | &nbspPhoto Credit:&nbspPTI

New Delhi: The year 2018 saw India’s national space agency - the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) achieve some seriously impressive milestones. The calendar year had barely begun when on 12 January 2018, the space organisation struck the magical figure of 100 launches when it successfully sent into space its 100th mission PSLV-C40/Cartosat-2 Series space vehicle.

In this regard, ISRO’s chief K Sivan, elated over the remarkable feat of the year gone by, said that the year 2018 brought many laurels for ISRO which successfully launched 16 missions. What is impressive is that seven out of these were accomplished in just 35 days.

In order to recount the major achievements of the national space organisation in 2018, here's a list:

The year began with the successful launch of PSLV-C40/Cartosat-2 Series carrying a total of 31 satellites on 12 January. The success of the mission brought laurels for Isro as it apart from 3 Indian satellites, the rocket carried 28 satellites from 6 other countries, namely Finland, France, Republic of Korea, the United States, Canada, and Britain. While the rocket carried 19 satellites on board, the Republic of Korea had 5 and UK, France, Canada and Finland had 1 each satellite.

The successful launch of GSAT-29 on November 14 added another feather to ISRO's already impressive kitty. The launch aimed at attempting to remove the hurdles faced by Village Resource Centres (VRCs), responsible for ensuring access to space-based services to Isro from rural areas. Weighing 3,423 kg, GSAT-29 was a multi-beam, multi-band communication satellite and obviously the heaviest satellite launched from Indian soil.

In the 11th month of the year, the national space agency launched PSLV-C43 rocket with 31 satellites on board thus reminding about the first feat of the year. The designated lifted off and successfully launched India’s Hyper Spectral Imaging satellite (HysIs) and 30 other co-passenger satellites from eight different international countries of the world. Being an Earth observation satellite the main objective of the HysIS is to study the earth's surface in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Plans on the cards for 2019

As the year also will also see the completion of the birth centenary of the founding father of India’s space programme, Vikram Sarabhai, which began on August 12, 2018, Isro has some ambitious plans on the anvil for 2019.

According to the agency, this year India has planned 32 missions, including the "most complex" Chandrayaan-2. Besides in a New Year message to the scientists at ISRO, Chairman K Sivan said this year promises to be much more challenging as there are 32 planned missions including 14 launch vehicles, 17 satellites, and one Tech demo missions.

The most complex Chandrayaan-2, which will be the 25th mission from SLP (second launch pad), and the development flights of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), Sivan said. With the cost of nearly Rs 800 crore, the Chandrayaan-2 mission is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission about 10 years ago.

Besides, as a result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of Gaganyaan on August 15 in 2018 the space agency has put the human spaceflight programme on the priority list, planned to be launched in 2021-2022. Though the human space mission has been planned in the fag end of 2021 according to agency Chairman it would start pursuing the mission in 2019 itself.

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Here’s what ISRO achieved in 2018 – and what to expect this year Description:The success of PSLV-C40/Cartosat-2 Series brought laurels to ISRO as, apart from 3 Indian satellites, the rocket carried 28 satellites from 6 other countries.Times Now